About Alison Hawkes

Alison joined Bay Nature in November, 2011 in a new position designed to boost the institute's web presence and cover ongoing nature issues. She has worked in journalism for more than a decade as a former newspaper reporter turned radio producer turned web editor with each rendition bringing her closer to her dream of covering environmental issues. In 2009 she graduated from the Columbia University School of Journalism with a masters in science journalism and moved to the Bay Area as a freelancer. She co-founded Way Out West, a site dedicated to covering Bay Area environmental news, and following a good year's run closed up shop after seeing the difficulty of monetizing online content. Alison is still dedicated to figuring out the puzzle of funding good journalism. She's an avid hiker and traveler, although her adventures have taken a tamer turn since the birth of her son, Oliver, who she's nevertheless enthusiastically introducing to the natural world, one tree and one bug at a time.

Contributions

Phytophthora tentaculata, a new and particularly pernicious strain of dangerous plant pathogens that has been on a federal watch list, was found throughout one of the SFPUC's restoration sites in central Alameda County.

Wild Emergency Services, an animal aid group, has started a petition to change way California Fish & Game deals with mountain lions in public places after Half Moon Bay cougar cub shooting, and more Bay Area nature news.

The San Pedro Headlands offers up the ultimate solution in "sustainable" Christmas trees -- restoring coastal scrubland by removing Monterey pine. My tree was a little short of perfect, but one to remember. (Alison Hawkes)

Scientists report new findings on how a 750-legged millipede from the Bay Area - the leggiest animal on Earth -- may have evolved all those legs to thrive in its unique niche under sandstone rocks in moist oak woodlands.

With the Northeast still reeling from the affects of superstorm Sandy, there's been quite a bit of chatter out here on the Pacific about our own vulnerabilities to large tropical storms in the age of climate change.

It’s Halloween, and you’ve probably noticed spiders everywhere. And not just the ones in costume. Perhaps the most seasonal of Bay Area spiders is the “pumpkin spider,” which gets it name from its bulbous, rust-colored thorax.

As the Bay Area struggles to meet sustainability goals, double-digit population growth presents a clear challenge to reducing the region’s ecological footprint. Residents must use resources more efficiently to counteract the addition of more than a million new residents. In many ways, it mirrors a challenge the planet is facing. Can population growth in San Francisco and the Bay Area be sustainable?

128 miles. 12,000 feet elevation gain. 17-plus hours of exercise. 3 mountain summits. 3 transit agencies. Add to that temperatures well into the triple digits in some places, and you've got the makings of a great story.That's about all you need to know to get an impression of how grueling the event known as Alt. Ride (formerly the Triple Threat) was this year.

It used to be that you needed guidebooks and an experienced friend to get up to speed on identifying a flash of wing through the trees. These days, however, newbie birders can become instant experts with technological tools like mobile apps. But how does technology change the nature of bird-watching? And what are the ethics pitfalls when finding a bird is so easy?

One of the impacts of the economic recession over the last few years has been less interest in developing the Bay Area’s remaining open space.A new report released on Tuesday by Greenbelt Alliance finds that a down real estate market, combined with public policies to restrict growth, has led to a 20 percent drop in the amount of Bay Area land “at risk” for development, compared to six years ago.An estimated 77,300 acres is no longer in the immediate cross-hairs of developers and suburban planners, according to At Risk: The Bay Area Greenbelt 2012. And some 3 million acres total are now protected.

A partial solar eclipse will be lighting up Bay Area skies early Sunday evening, and as luck would have it the weather is supposed to cooperate.Between 5:16pm and 7:40 pm, the moon will pass in front of the sun in an alignment not seen in 18 years. During the annular solar eclipse, the moon will form a “black hole” in the center of the sun with sunbeams shooting out from the sides.

Humans may be the only animals who celebrate Mother's Day. But there's no doubt that babies of other species are just as attached to their mamas, at least until they grow up. I like to think they also get a warm, fuzzy feeling when they think of the female who risked life and limb to bring them into the world and raise them fit enough to prosper. Happy Mother's Day to California mamas of all feathers and fur, fins and ... yes, even those with exoskeletons.

On a typical spring day in early May at the Gill Tract, UC Berkeley agriculture researchers would be busy preparing for the summer research season.But this year, in a fenced-off field that usually grows experimental crops, a temporary encampment has sprung up. A group of students and others associated with the Occupy movement have rototilled the soil and planted their own vision of the future of farming.

It’s easy to get depressed about the loss of biodiversity when every day, it seems, some new species pops up on a watch list like a death toll. But there are success stories that offer rays of hope in a world beset by climate change and habitat destruction. A new art exhibit opening on May 1 at the Tilden environmental education center in Berkeley showcases species that have made it back from the brink of extinction.

The last remaining specimen of Franciscan manzanita is happily basking in the sun in an undisclosed location in the Presidio, apparently unaware that conservative talk radio has it out for its survival. Fanning the flames on government spending, shock-jocks are calling its 2010 rescue the "untold story of the year."

Springtime is the season for babies. They’re busy emerging into the world by whatever method they come -- by hatch or by birth. With their arrival, some of the youngsters will also need help. The Lindsay Wildlife Museum’s rehabilitation center in Walnut Creek has about 200 babies under its wing right now and expects the number to shoot up even higher in the next couple weeks.

California state parks advocates are hitting the halls of the Capitol on Tuesday to remind lawmakers that they won’t go away, even though many parks are closing come July. There is no savior bill for state parks on the horizon, not in a year when tax hikes and state budget deficits are on the table. Still, the conversation about the future of California’s 279 park system must continue, said Jerry Emory, spokesperson for the California State Parks Foundation (CSPF).

Wind power companies are taking a bird’s eye view in siting new turbines in the Altamont Pass.As a major re-powering effort gets underway to replace 50-year-old windmills with fewer and larger ones, the companies are making use of new techniques in risk mapping to avoid the numbers of raptor deaths that have become part of the political fabric of the Altamont Wind Resource Area.

It’s showtime. What better way to spend a blustery day in early March than to visit the two green film festivals in San Francisco? This year’s line-up features a number of films from Bay Area filmmakers and ones that touch on local topics. Among them is Bay Area filmmaker Jon Shenk's "The Island President" about how the recently ousted leader of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, is trying to save his country from being the first obliterated by sea level rise. In an interview, Shenk explains why all coastal cities -- including Bay Area cities -- should take what's happening in the Maldives to heart.

The cash-strapped city of Benicia has come up with a novel way to keep its local state recreation area open and off the list of California park closures: get the state to foot the bill. The city says it can operate the 500-acre park at less than half the state's budget.

Monarchs may be the most celebrated and regal of the Lepidoptera, and they're hitting record highs in the Bay Area. Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont is estimating their numbers at 4,200, which is 10 times the normal count. Grab your binoculars.

Some say it's a "military style" operation, and surely the level of expertise in the field can be intimidating. But the Christmas Bird Count is also great fun for normally solitary birders and a chance to grow the next generation of naturalists.

After one solar company proposed covering 2,000 acres of open space in eastern Alameda County, county planning officials are preparing a new solar policy that will take into account environmental concerns like the loss of wildlife habitat. The debate is the latest in a series of clashes nationwide between green power and conservation.

When Europeans arrived at what is now Pinnacles National Monument, the land was not exactly a “pristine” or “untouched” vision of nature, but rather a managed ecosystem that itself had become dependent on fires set by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Scientists are studying the traditional fire practices to help the ecosystem build greater resilience to major disturbances like climate change.

The Beach Chalet Athletic Fields may not seem like an ecological oasis, but environmentalists are fighting a San Francisco plan to replace natural grass with artificial turf. They say the move would turn foraging grounds into the ecological equivalent of a parking lot. City officials say the fake grass is needed to help it meet growing recreational needs.

Four surfboard-sized vehicles set sail off the coast of the San Francisco Bay on Thursday in an attempt to break world records in ocean exploration and robotics. The “wave gliders” will, if successful, traverse the longest distance of any unmanned ocean craft as they cross the Pacific Ocean.

Environmental groups have filed suit against the city of San Francisco under claims it's violating the Endangered Species Act at Sharp Park Golf Course. The groups say that San Francisco, which owns and operates the 90-year old golf course in Pacifica, is harming two imperiled species: the California red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake.